While some people see Deseret Industries thrift stores and donation centers as regular secondhand stores, Houston store manager Dale Kerr knows they are much more than that.
Deseret Industries serves as training facilities for those facing employment barriers. Employees — called associates — all participate in a program called “Ready for Work” throughout their employment. This job training program prepares associates for future employment opportunities and is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ efforts to help individuals achieve self-reliance.
“It’s what Christ would do if He were here on the earth,” said Kerr. “He would help people better their situations and better who they are.”
What is Ready for Work?
Ready for Work is a 13-week program where Deseret Industries associates receive workplace training and development counseling to help them overcome barriers to employment.
“I tell people it’s like a stepping stone in their career path,” said Kerr.
Throughout the program, associates meet one-on-one with operations supervisors to learn about workplace behaviors that fall into one of five categories: dependability, productivity, professionalism, teachability and teamwork. Associates rate themselves on how well they currently exemplify each skill and set goals for improvement.
Additionally, professional counselors help associates identify and pursue opportunities for vocational training, such as receiving CNA, automotive repair, phlebotomy or welding certifications. GED assistance can also be provided.
Kerr said people from all walks of life participate in the Ready for Work program.
“Some, it might be their first job, and some, they might be returning back to work after several years of not working, and some, it may be a career change,” he said. “So we facilitate and help people on their path. We meet them wherever they’re at.”
According to the Church’s Caring for Those in Need 2025 Summary, the 46 Deseret Industries stores in the United States helped 10,653 individuals complete the Ready for Work program in 2025. The program has been translated into Spanish, Swahili, French and Arabic.
An emphasis on self-reliance
Deseret Industries is one of several programs headed by the Church in an effort to help individuals become self-reliant. Other programs include employment services — where individuals can receive hands-on help with resumes and interview skills — and transitional services, which helps individuals facing significant life challenges such as incarceration, homelessness or displacement rebuild their lives and regain stability.
“The Lord is very heavily invested in our lives and genuinely cares about our path to self-reliance,” said Deseret Industries program manager Mark Thornton. “Our Father in Heaven wants His children to be taken care of temporally and spiritually. To the Lord, they’re one and the same.”
Kerr said that when individuals are self-reliant, new opportunities for growth arise.
“You can’t grow spiritually unless your temporal needs are met. And so we help meet those needs for the people that are employed here in our training program,” he said. “As we help there, then it just opens the door for the Spirit to touch their lives.”
A living witness
Thornton called himself a “living witness” of the Ready for Work model.
Thornton began working with Deseret Industries in 2008 after losing his job as an accountant during the Great Recession. His bishop initially suggested that he apply to be a job coach at Deseret Industries — now called an operations supervisor — but when there were no openings available, Thornton was hired as an associate.
Although Ready for Work hadn’t been developed when Thornton was an associate, he said the same principles of encouragement and hope for the future were exemplified by his supervisors, which he said “changed my life dramatically.”
He worked as an associate for a year and a half before being hired as a job coach, eventually being promoted to assistant store manager, project manager and now program manager.
Thornton was working as an assistant store manager when Ready for Work was developed about eight years ago. A self-proclaimed analytical thinker, Thornton said he had been very focused on the business side of Deseret Industries. That changed when the job training program was implemented.
“I would say it made me start thinking correctly about the program, from less of a managerial or cost-accounting perspective to more of a people-person or Christlike leadership perspective.”
Building confidence
Kerr said it’s amazing to watch people’s confidence grow as they meet with their operations supervisors and develop new skills.
“I love coming to work every single day,” he said. “To see people make even small steps, and the joy that brings them and the happiness, and it’s just like, ‘Wow, I’ve done something. I’ve accomplished something.’ That makes it all worth it every single day to come to work.”
Kerr recalled a man he worked with several years ago who thought he was completely unemployable.
“As he worked through the Ready for Work program, it really opened up his eyes. He started to realize that he had skills and abilities that he didn’t recognize.”
This man — who once thought he would never have a job — got his commercial driver’s license through Ready for Work and now works as a truck driver. Kerr says that man stops by and says thank you whenever he’s in town.
